Snipers Work In Pairs
by Red-Wolfz
Summary: It took Ember three seconds within the time of meeting Craig Boone to know that she hated him, his beret, and the entire damn town. It took two months for her to return to Novac, help with his revenge, and ask him to accompany her on her journey. Then, it took her five months, several near death fights, five losing hands of caravan, and sip of whiskey to realize she loved him.
1. You Gave Me a Reason To Hate You

Ember was pretty damn sick of having guns being pointed at her. Every place she went, at least one person had the will to stare down the sights at her. It was beyond annoying to her. The thought of possible death didn't come to mind at the sight of a gun's barrel pointed her way. She had survived a 9mm shot to the head, give or take a few scratches on her moral compass/conscience and being void of any past memories. The courier had survived it and was not going to back down at the sight of someone inching to pull the trigger.

Once she arrived in Novac she didn't know why, but she thought this little community of people would be different from the rest she had encountered on her journey. Maybe it was the friendly Miss Jeannie May who greeted her with such a bright attitude that it made Ember feel at ease for the first time since she had left Doc Mitchell's house. Or the way Cliff Briscoe automatically gave her a discount at the small mention of the name. Perhaps it was the way the bed of her rented room allowed her to slip easily into a dreamless sleep. It seemed like a slice of heaven to her.

Whenever Miss Jeannie May suggested during a brief chat in the morning that Ember go visit one of the town's snipers, the courier guessed that this would lead to a lot more than a lovely conversation about where the checkered suited man was. Of course she was right. The former 1st recon sniper sent her up the road from Novac to deal with the ghoul problem and promised to tell her information about the man who attacked her.

Midnight, three days later, she re-entered the town more annoyed and confused than she had ever been. Not remembering Miss Jeannie May or Manny's information about there being another sniper who took the night shift, she trudged up the stairs inside of the dinosaur and swung open the door. Just as the words, "Manny, I fixed your fucking problem. Now tell me-", were coming out of her mouth, her eyes spotted a hunting rifle being pointed towards the direction of her face.

The hushed voice of the man behind brought her attention away from her unknowing stare down with the weapon. "God damnit! Don't sneak up on me like that." He lowered the gun and Ember felt his gaze attempt to take in as much information about her as it could in one pass. "What do you want?"

With the weight of the last three days on her shoulders combined with the annoyance with a welcoming gun to the face in a place she thought could be considered safe, anger boiled inside of the courier as she glared at the sniper. "Nothing." She spit out and walked out the door, slamming it shut before she descended down the stairs.

It was only whenever the door to her room had been locked and her rifle placed in an easy to reach position that Ember allowed herself to curl up on the bed and sob. The past days had overwhelmed her physically and mentally. Thoughts that attempted to make sense of what had happened only made her head ache more. There was no way for her to completely comprehend what the simple task of clearing out ghouls had turned into.

But as she drifted into an unhappy sleep, she knew one thing for certain:

That after only meeting him for three seconds, she hated Craig Boone.


	2. Two Months, a Dog, and a Hell of a Wrong

Ember didn't even flinch as she jammed the stimpak into her leg, it took all but two seconds for the medication to flood her system with pain relief. She sagged slightly in her sitting position against the hard rock she had been using as cover as the burn of her wound dissipated. Her eyes drooped suddenly and the courier felt the tug of exhaustion hit her, replacing the adrenaline from the battle.

Rex wined beside her, pressing his damp nose against her face. It was a simple motion, but it jump started Ember's brain back into working order.

She gave the dog a pat and gentle smile. "You're right, bud. I can't rest here." Adjusting her position, she brought her left arm in front of her and examined the map on the screen of her Pip-Boy 3000 for any markers of safe rest areas near their location. Only one was within short walking distance and Ember nearly groaned as soon as she read the name. "How the hell did I accidently run towards Novac?"

With no other options, she set her map marker on the town. Ever so slowly, she rose to a standing position and hauled her pack up against her back once again. Shot gun in hand, the courier made her way towards the small town with the cyberdog in tow.

* * *

They arrived around noon. The Mojave sun beating down on them as they walked through the gates of the hotel. Ember didn't bother to stop and chat with anyone, her mind just on the thought of crashing against the worn, rough fabric of her room's bed. She didn't even care if radroaches had taken the place over in her absence and were crawling all over the surfaces. She'd allow Rex to take care of them, move any carcass from the bed, and then bury her face into the nearest pillow.

Luckily for them, no radroaches had decided to take up residency. When the door was locked behind them, Ember finally felt at ease and allowed her eyes to close for an all too brief minute. She guessed that she nearly had fell asleep standing because Rex let out a wine and shoved her leg slightly. His action once again forced her away from the ever so tempting, sweet darkness of sleep and into the tiresome mindset of work.

Groaning, the courier removed her pack and gun from her back, placing them next to the bed. Then came off the reinforced leather armor. As much as she loved the light, durable outfit, she hated the effort it to remove the extra straps and buckles that came with the promise of extra protection. After about ten minutes of exhausted fumbling with its removal, she was free from it and ready to slip under the covers.

Per routine, Ember removed Maria from its usual holster, which clung to the right leg of her armor, and placed it under her pillow. With all of her preparations done, she slipped her legs beneath the covers and lowered her head onto the pillow gently. After two deep breaths, her mind slipped into a dream filled sleep.

 _"Where's my mommy, daddy?" The question slipped from Ember's lips as she stared up at the face of her father. She came up to just past his knees now, but looking up at him was still a challenge for her. They were in his office, the grey walls and bright lights surrounding them dulled everything to familiarity._

 _"Darling, what do you mean? I've told you many times she's gone." He squatted down to meet her height. One of his large hands came up to pet her hair, something that made her always feel at ease. "She died right after you were born darling."_

 _She rocked back on her heels as her mouth came to form a frown. "Why can't I get a new one though? The other kids are always making fun of me for not having one..." Her bottom lip quivered as she turned her eyes to look at the ground. "_ _, always says that since I don't have a mommy, that you're a bad daddy. But I know you're a good daddy! Because you tell me stories, tickle me, and kiss my ouchies. But the other kids don't believe me and they pull my hair and they call you a bad daddy and they tell me I don't deserve a mommy and they-"_

 _Tears were running down her face by the time the list started. Her father pulled her into a gentle hug and shushed her. Softly stroking her hair, he murmured comforting words. Whenever her crying was reduced to just sniffles, he pulled her back from the hug and stared into her eyes. "The other kids are wrong. Don't ever listen to the mean things they say. If they ever start pulling your hair again, run back to my office and I'll deal with them." He placed his hand on her shoulders and gave her a loving smile. "Darling, you had the most wonderful, selfless, giving mother. She gave me the most wonderful gift in the world, you. I know she would've gave the world to tell you stories, tickle you, and kiss your ouchies. But she died before she could give you that, and I know she's sorry for that. I also know that she'd be so proud of you. Even more proud than I am." With those soft words, he pulled her into another hug and Ember felt like the world was right again._

 _But then, he disappeared and the world shifted into red smoke. All at once, voices of anger screamed out at her from the smoke. With each new voice that appeared, it felt like another jab at her body. She was sure that they were actually knives meant to torture her and bleed from every part of her body. But when she painfully raised her arms to her into her vision, she discovered that they were not bleeding at all. In fact, they were covered in slightly damaged, heavy armor. She looked down at herself and saw that she was not the young girl who, just a minute ago, was crying to her father. She was a full grown woman under attack by every angry soul in existence._

 _In attempts to shut out the voices, Ember covered her ears with her hands, but that made the voices only stand out more._

 _"Murderer!"_

 _"Thief!"_

 _"Why did you kill him?!"_

 _"You could've saved her!"_

 _"Coward!"_

 _"Monster!"_

 _"Monster!"_

 _"MONSTER!"_

 _She fell to her knees as tears started to roll down her face. There was no father to comfort her now. No father to tell stories, tickle her, or kiss her ouchies. This little girl was left to deal with the bullies alone. "I'm sorry"s came pouring out of her at the start then she started to chant to herself, "I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster". Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the warmth of her father's arms but only felt a chill under her heavy armor._

 _When she opened her eyes again, she spotted a man rushing towards her, armed with a knife. "Why don't you just die!"_

 _A gun appeared in her hands that wasn't there before; the action of pulling the trigger with the sights aimed at the man's head was too natural. It made her sick at the sight of his body hitting the ground with a thud. But at the same time, she felt the shiver of nothingness._

 _The scene changed and her arms became restrained. Her armor was stripped from her and revealed torn, ratty clothing that belonged to the average courier. That's what she was after all, an average, nobody courier. And the checkered suited man in front of her knew that well._

 _Goodsprings cemetery, the best place to kill and bury a nobody. With Maria's sights on her head, he said his parting words to her. "The game was rigged from the start."_

 _Fear trickled down Embers spine at those words. The shot that was supposed to end her world, rang out louder than any of the voices from earlier. It turned her vision to black and caused her throat to stop providing oxygen, throwing her into a full panic. She thrashed and struggled about but nothing seemed to break the endless spell._

 _Then, a dog's bark broke through and forced her away from her private hell._

Rex appeared in her drowsy vision as she pried open her eyelids. He was on the ground, near the bed, staring up at her with a concerned look on his face. Well, as concerned as a dog can look.

Ember sat up and wiped away the sweat from her face. As her breathing steadied, she let her thoughts drift to the dream of her father. She attempted to remember his face, but like all dreams she had about people of her past, she just saw a bland generic face that belonged to no one. Even the specific names from her dreams came back as blanks. These two facts bothered so much, she sometimes wished she had no dreams of her past life. But at the same time, it will her to have more.

Figuring that she wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon, she made her way out of bed and into the bathroom. Once there, she splashed a small stream of water from the sink against her face in order to wake herself up even more. Using a rag, she washed her arms and legs in attempts to free them of the grime the Mojave and nightmares placed on them. After declaring herself satisfactory, she went back into the main room and grabbed her pack.

After laying it out on the bed, the courier patted the top of the mess of blankets to signal Rex that it was fine to jump up onto it. It had taken her a while to teach him just to do this as he seemed to not understand that she would find it completely fine for him to even sleep on the bed with her. She figured his past had made him reluctant to this behavior so she kept her patience in hopes that he'd one day take the chance to find comfort on a bed near her.

Digging around the pack a bit, she found the items which she was searching for: a bottle of purified water, two boxes of cram, and a small metal bowl. Tearing open the first package of processed meat, she dug out its contents and held it in front of Rex for a brief moment before flinging it towards his mouth. He caught it easily and devoured the piece quickly, then gave his lips a happy lick.

"Good boy!" Ember gave him a smile as she scratched behind his right ear. "Thanks for waking me up, by the way. You're a great friend, Rex."

She didn't know if he completely understood her, but the bark he gave in return made her feel like he did. After that, he jumped from the bed and back onto the floor. Calmly waiting for the next part of their unofficial routine.

Happy to oblige him, she placed the metal bowl on the floor, cracked open the water bottle, and generously poured half its contents into it. Then, as he was happily lapping away at it, she ate her portion of the cram and downed the remaining contents of the bottle. When they were both finished, she packed the bowl back into the bag and placed the waste in the room's trash can.

Struggling back into her armor, the courier caught sight of the time on her Pip-Boy and nearly groaned. It was past eleven at night, which meant there would be nobody up to interact with. Then a thought hit her, the sniper up in the dinosaur would be up. Bone? Boner? Bomb? Whatever his name was, she just remembered her bad encounter with him the last time she had visited this town. His simple action of pointing his rifle at her had tipped the scale too far to make her hate him, his stupid beret, and the whole damn town.

Her Pip-Boy still had the note she had taken down from Manny about paying him a visit. She figured it was worth a chance in hell to attempt to start a conversation with him once again. Even if she ended up hating everything about this place even more. At least it wouldn't be boring.

Grabbing her bag, Maria, and her shotgun, Ember headed out the door with Rex just two steps behind her. They wandered down the steps and towards the dinosaur with eyes searching for enemies in the shadows. She knew they wouldn't find any because of how effective the snipers were at their jobs, but being overly cautious hadn't gotten them killed yet.

The path to the sniper's position was familiar and within a few minutes, Ember found herself in the same position as last time. This time, however, she was slightly less annoyed. Still annoyed as hell by the action, but not enough to wish the deadliest sins of hell upon the guy.

"Do you always greet visitors with a gun to the face? Or do you not expect them to head your way?"

The man lowered his weapon and she felt his gaze look her over once again, a sense of Déjà vu washing over her. "I expect some to head my way. But none like you." He eyed her shot gun then continued. "Huh. Maybe I should've been you I was expecting all along." He shifted his gaze back to her face. "Why are you here?"

Ember leaned against the door and allowed herself to look past the sniper and towards the moonlit desert. "Obviously, I came to check out the view." She flashed a smile as her hand found itself scratching Rex's ear to assure him that the situation was okay.

"I think you better leave." The man seemed to dismiss her attempt at a joke. Did this man not know how to interact with another human being?

"Calm down. I was just making friendly conversation."

"I don't have friends here."

"Really? I figured there'd be a mile long line of people signing up to be your best bud." Ember proclaimed sarcastically before letting out a sigh. "Listen, I'm not from here. Care to give me a shot?"

He seemed to think about that fact for a moment before speaking up again, but seeming to muse out loud his thoughts. "No, you're not from here. Maybe you shouldn't go. Not just yet."

"Why the change in heart just over my residency?"

"I need someone I can trust. You're a stranger. That's a start."

That was the best line she'd heard in a while. It was crazy, stupid, and seemed like a joke. But this man had look of importance on his face that made her think that he had a plan on his mind. Having nothing else better to do, she decided to give in to his plot. "So, what do you want me to do?"

The man seemed to have a brief moment of surprise when he realized that she knew he was about to request something from her. At least, the slight rise of his eyebrows told her that. Other than that, this guy was practically a brick wall. "I want you to find something out for me. I don't know if there's anything to find, but I need someone to try." His voice changed slightly as he continued. "My wife was taken from our home by legion slavers one night while I was one watch. They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don't know who."

"So, you want me to track down your wife for you?" She asked, thinking it was another one of the "please find my loved one" type of missions people usually found themselves giving her. Not that she complained, if she could bring peace or happiness to that person and a possible other, it made her life a little better.

Then he surprised her by wiping away all her thoughts about that.

"My wife's dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her."

A chill ran down her spine when she heard that. It forced her to stand straight and take the situation seriously. "And what do I do if I find this person?"

"Bring him out in front of the nest here while I'm on duty. I work nights." He stared at her until she nodded then continued. "I'll give you my NCR beret to put on. It'll be our signal, so I'll know you're standing with him." The man's tone turned deadly as he continued. "And I'll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself."

Ember let the information sink in for a moment, closing her eyes as she processed everything to memory. Then she opened her eyes again and looked him in the eye. "I'll do it."

"Good. I'll make it worth your while." The sniper took off his beret and handed it to her. "And one more thing. We shouldn't speak again. Until this is all over." Just as she was about to question it, he continued. "No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know. Or the legion will be after me next."

She nodded in understanding, turning to head out the door. "Alright then. Goodbye for now, I guess."

"Yeah." He gave her a nod.

A minute later, Rex and she were heading down the final steps outside the dinosaur. Checking the time on her Pip-Boy, Ember was surprised to see that only an hour had passed in time since she had left her room. Knowing that she wouldn't make any progress with the man's request until everyone else in the town was also awake, she headed the way opposite the sniper's nest to try to fight some aggressive creatures just outside of town. Or perhaps play a game of fetch with Rex.

Just trying to find something to keep the both of them occupied until sun rise.


	3. Too Much Talking for One Shot

Eight hours later, they returned to town hungry and slightly sore. After a while of aimless wandering, which allowed them to take in the dull features of the Mojave wasteland surrounding the town, the pair had come across some scattered groups of geckos. Ember saw the opportunity for target practice and Rex saw the chance to tear geckos to shreds. An equal amount of happiness for both of them; happiness that earned them a couple spare gecko hides and eggs that would make a few spare caps.

The town residents were awake by the time they returned, which made the small adventure worth it in the end. Some were bartering with the traveling merchants, attempting to strike up some outrageous deals, whilst others loomed by the local doctor, Ada Straus. Ember didn't really care to call her a doctor though, since Rex had more ability in the medical field than her. It was also the fact that Ada was the town's drug dealer that assured her that the Followers wouldn't be hiking their way down to Novac to seek her knowledge. Those easily scammed by that type of person was usually those Ember took great effort to avoid interaction with. But, she had given the sniper her word that she would see this through.

Before she could even attempt to plaster on a fake, friendly smile, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was a man in NCR ranger armor limping into the gates of the motel. Even from this distance away, Ember could tell that his limp was a heavy burden. Not your typical, "I stepped on a nail" or "I tripped", type of injury. She watched his struggle across the yard to what she presumed was his bungalow, before he slipped out her sight inside of it.

Deciding that chatting with the ranger would be much more interesting than listening to anything the other residents had to say, Ember retraced his steps to the small bungalow's door then politely gave a hard knock, figuring she would only try her luck by sneaking up on 1st recon snipers at night. She heard a slight shuffle from inside before a voice called out to her. "Come in!"

The door opened into a room about as shabby as her own hotel room, but a bit better kept than her own. After taking in the sights of the room, she looked at the ranger, who was waiting patiently in a seat by a desk for her to take in the scenery. Realizing that her silence may be considered rude, Ember found her voice. "Uh, hi. I'm Ember and this is Rex." The cyberdog gave a happy bark as a way of greetings and the courier felt relief in the fact that he didn't attempt to attack the ranger for his sin of hat. Though she still intended to keep a close eye on him.

"You must be new in town. I'm Andy." The ranger said pleasantly, which made her believe that he was a great place to start this investigation.

"I've been here before a while back, but kinda got the blunt end of the town's night time sniper after I tried to make conversation." Ember mentally corrected herself that she originally intended to yell Manny's head off for the confusing mission he had sent her on, but the ranger didn't need to know that. She also wasn't going to let him know that she still didn't know his name, even after being given this rather morbid task. "Got any idea what made him that way?"

"Ah, Boone? Been that way for a while now. Had his wife taken. I don't think he'll ever be the same as he was. Damn shame." Andy shook his head then continued on. "I told the Rangers up at the station to keep an eye out, but there's just too much ground to cover."

The courier leaned up against the wall across from Andy. "What was his wife like?"

For some reason, that question caused the Ranger to break into a smile. After a heartbeat of a moment later, the smile lessened into a sad grin. "Carla was a knockout. Whenever Boone walked around with her, he always had a funny grin on his face like he couldn't believe his luck." He let out a huff of a laugh. "I know we couldn't." With a little effort, Andy leaned back in his seat. "Her looks wasn't the only reason she stuck out. That girl never minced words. If she'd had better food or hospitality, she'd let you hear it. Trouble was, she usually had."

Ember nodded, understanding how this could create a bit of tension in a "humble" town like this. Those who weren't "grateful" enough for what they were provided usually didn't last long in a tight community like this one.

"I don't think she meant it though. She really was a sweet girl." The way he said those words made her believe that to be a fact. "I think she just wanted to remind herself that there are still nicer places in this world than Novac. Who could blame her for that?"

Feeling the mood was too dark for a first conversation, she decided to question him a bit about his own history. As most NCR Rangers were chocked full of at least a few stories, Andy didn't disappoint. The ending to his own was a little pitying though. Exchanging a few tales of her own adventures with NCR proved to keep the mood from simmering down. One thing lead to another and Ember found herself explaining to the Ranger that he wasn't useless in his injured condition, that his mind was well intact. He seemed to gain something from that and offered to teach the courier a Ranger defensive move.

Whenever he put it into demonstration on her, she didn't not expect to go from staring at his hat to looking up at Rex's tilted head. A few practice tries with a chair as her staged enemy, and the Ranger gave her form a nod of approval.

They parted with Ember promising to visit some of his Ranger buddies down at station Charlie and that she would come visit again sometime.

With some base knowledge about Boone's wife, she felt more confident in their search for her seller. That confidence was beaten into the dust whenever most of the residents had the same thing to say. Miss Jeannie May and Manny seemed the most relieved by her disappearance, which made her stomach churn. Just as she thought she had went through all the people in the town, she spotted a rusty shack down the road and she knew that there was one other person in this town that could give her a lead.

Upon walking into the shack, however, she wished that she had never seen this place. It and its lone resident just screamed "roach shit crazy" to her. Before she could even excuse herself away from the brewing storm of crap she knew this guy would tell her, he jumped up from behind the small barrier of sandbags the room had. "What! How'd you get past the guards?!"

Ember slowly closed her eyes and silently pleaded for any god to give her strength to get through this conversation without shooting him, or herself.

"Who sent you? I ain't talking! They tried to get me to talk before, but I didn't say nothing. And I don't aim to now, by gum." His shouting caused her a headache.

Opening her eyes again, she turned back to him slowly. "I don't mean you any harm."

"We'll see about that. You come any closer and I'm liable to stick you with my stickin' knife. Ol' Sticky's feeling mighty ornery this day." The old man brought out a knife to prove him point and Ember felt Rex tense up beside her.

"We can just talk from this distance, alright?" Her hand met Rex's head as she tried to put on a gentle smile.

"You sure, now? It's kinda hard to hear you."

"You just talked about stabbing me with your dirty knife. I'm fine where I am."

"Okay, Okay. But speak up a little. But not so much that They hear you. They got people everywhere, always listening." He shifted his gaze from side to side, as if looking for his fictional "They".

Ember let out a breath before asking the blunt question that everyone else was too soft for. "What do you about Boone's wife abduction?"

Surprisingly, No Bark started to hum a little. "Seen it all. Seen shadowy folk come to his room and leave again in the middle of the night. Thought one might've gone in the lobby, too, for a spell." That was all the information the Ember needed. As he dissolved into crazier ramblings about theories of who it was, she exited the shack.

Glancing down at her Pip-Boy, she noticed the time was around two hours before Boone's shift. The perfect amount of time to find evidence. She just needed to chat the old lady up a bit, which was easy. Knowing the old woman didn't care for Rex, Ember unhappily left him by the traveling merchants to wait until the deed was done.

Slipping into the lobby, she fell into the role of the cheery, friendly, young courier persona rather easily. She guessed it had something to do with the fire that was burning in her gut with the information she had obtained from No Bark. He may have been crazy, but she knew that was one too many fingers pointing towards Miss Jeannie May. And as she talked pleasantry with the old woman, the connection formed more and more in her mind.

For a brief moment, Miss Jeannie May excused herself to the restroom for a bit and Ember assured her that she'd treat any traveler who wandered in with the hospitality that Novac was known for. As soon as the door closed behind her, however, the courier set to work, searching around the front desk of the office for evidence. That's whenever she came upon the floor safe. Its lock was as easy as child's play for her to pick and she soon found herself with a document, which had the formally written title at the top: "Bill of Sale".

Quickly reading the contents of the document, she felt sick. It was bad enough to sell your fellow woman off to slavers known for abuse and rape. But an unborn child? If she hadn't promised Boone he'd get his revenge, Ember would've personally beaten the woman to a bloody pulp.

The time was still an hour before Boone's shift, so she forced herself to slip back into her persona and put the document into one of the many pouches on her hip. Miss Jeannie May returned, unaware of the courier's discovery and plans, and they returned to their chat.

When topics were growing old, Ember glanced down at her Pip-Boy to see she had talked her way well into Boone's shift. She bid Miss Jeannie May goodbye as if she was retiring for the night, but she merely waited a few minutes outside the door. Then she rushed back into the office, faking a look of shock. "Miss Jeannie May, you have to see this! Out in front of the dinosaur! Hurry!" With that she quickly returned outside.

"What is it?" Miss Jeannie May hurried at the command of her new "friend", quickly jogging after her.

"You've gotta see, Miss Jeannie. You just got to." If she wasn't trying to be convincing in her role, Ember would've cringed at the way her accent had taken over her speech. But they were in front of the dinosaur now and a wrong move could ruin this completely.

"Now Miss Ember, what is it you need to show me?"

"Look up there." Ember pointed up towards the mouth of the dinosaur, where Boone currently sat.

"Yes, yes. I see Boone up there." The old woman turned her head back to the other, looking a bit annoyed. "Is that all?"

"You don't see it?" She asked innocently. "Look more closely."

Miss Jeannie May turned back to the dinosaur and squinted as she gazed at its mouth. "I don't believe I'm seeing what you are."

"Let me help you then." The warm persona she wore disappeared as she directed the old woman's attention once again towards Boone. "See that?" Her voice was as cold as ice as she whispered into the other's ear. "That's the husband of the innocent young mother who you sold off to legion slavers. You sold that poor girl and her unborn child for a measly one thousand five hundred caps." She stepped away, reached into her bag, pulled out Boone's red beret, and then stared at the shocked face of the other.

The courier's face was blank as she told Miss Jeannie May the last words she'd ever hear. "I hope you rot in hell, bitch." In a swift motion, Ember placed the beret onto her head and turned towards the Dinosaur. She wasn't shocked whenever the bullet came down and hit Miss Jeannie May square between the eyes. She was just impressed on how fast he was.

Ember didn't find any shame as she searched the corpse for anything of use. Disappointed that the rotten bitch had nothing of use to her, she just dragged the body into some nearby dead bushes then went to retrieve Rex from his unwavering position. They both went up the familiar steps to the mouth of the dinosaur and were pleasantly surprised whenever Boone didn't raise his rifle their way again.

"How'd you know?" A simple question from a short spoken man. A weighted question from a man seeking to finally find some kind of peace.

"Sorry." She whispered in advance before slipping the document out from her pouch and handing it to him. Even though his sunglasses blocked her view of his eyes, she knew they aged more and more with every word of that bill of sale.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It'd be like them to keep paperwork." Boone folded up the document again and slipped it into his pants pocket. "Here." He passed her a small bag filled with caps and a 1st recon red beret, just like his own. "This is all I can give. I think our dealings are done here."

Looking up from her new beret to meet his eyes, she felt a new question in her mind. "What are you going to do now?"

The former 1st recon sniper looked slightly lost, as lost as a non-emotion showing man can. "I don't know. I won't be staying, I know that. Don't see much point in anything right now, except hunting legionaries." He inclined his head towards her. "Maybe I'll wander, like you."

That popped an idea in her head that she couldn't help but say out loud. "Why don't you come with me? We can hunt down the legion, together."

"You don't want to do that."

"I thought snipers worked in pairs." She had been taught that fact after endless slightly drunk card games with the 1st recon team at Camp McCarran, the cheating bastards.

This statement seemed to entertain Boone though and he gave a nod. "Yeah. Working on your own, you're a lot less effective. I've been there and paid for it." He stared at her so sharply that it felt like he was going to burn a hole through his sunglasses. "But this isn't going to end well."

"Don't act like you know everything." The courier scolded, stuffing her newly obtained goods into her pack. "I'm a pretty good shot and Rex help us through any trouble we get into."

Boone didn't show any physical change as he replied. "Fine. Let's get out of here."

She looked at him for a moment, puzzled. "Don't you need to grab anything from your room or tell Manny?"

"There's nothing there for me to pick up and Manny will know as soon as he spots the body tomorrow morning."

"Alright then, let's go." Ember headed out of the dinosaur, down the road, and away from the town that she still hated so very much. But at least she had gained company that would talk back to her. Well. After a second glance behind her at the sniper, she changed that thought. She thinks the dog will still talk more.


End file.
